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For the week of 5/18/2012
WCBS Weekly Devotional
Never Meeting a Stranger
Nancy McGuirk
Bible Commentator - Author
The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) John 4:9
It has been said that the true measure of a person is how they treat someone they hardly know. This idea has its root in the Golden Rule—treating others the way we’d like to be treated—and Jesus’ second great commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s the message in the story of the Good Samaritan, and why Jesus commended so highly the Samaritan who helped a stranger instead of the two religious leaders who turned away from the needs of their countryman.
My youngest daughter is the kind of person who never meets a stranger. She has been loved so much by so many for so long that she just naturally loves everybody else and assumes they love her. She genuinely looks each person in the eye and really cares what he or she thinks, no matter who they are. Unfortunately, she is the exception in our culture, not the rule. We are either too busy with our agenda, or we’re only interested in those who are like us or can help us. Helping a neighbor becomes more of a nuisance than a pleasure. And isolation becomes easier and requires less effort in a world that is already spread too thin.
Jesus also never met a stranger, even when the custom of the day was not to talk to certain people like Samaritans—especially a Samaritan woman. Everywhere Jesus went He cared about people no matter who they were—lepers or blind or of another culture. He truly loved them and wanted to know what they thought. Jesus came into this world to serve and care about others, and we are to have the same attitude as He had (Philippians 2:5-7). Spending time in the Father’s Word learning how much we are loved and cared for should overflow to our relationship with others.
How many strangers do you meet everyday? Make it a goal not to meet any. Taking time to show each person you meet that they are truly important will reflect how Jesus felt about you the first time the two of you met.
Heavenly Father, Please create in me a loving heart. Teach me to listen, not talk; to give, not take; and to care, not ignore. Amen.
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